Partnered with a Survivor: David Mandel and Ruth Reymundo Mandel
Partnered with a Survivor is a professional-focused podcast created and produced by Ruth Reymundo and hosted by the Safe & Together Institute. What began as intimate conversations between Ruth and David Mandel—founder of the Institute and creator of the Safe & Together Model—about violence, relationships, abuse, and the systems that respond to them has grown into a global conversation about systems and culture change.
Hosted by Ruth and co-hosted by David, the podcast features in-depth, professionally grounded discussions about how institutions respond to domestic abuse, gender-based violence, and child maltreatment. Many episodes also feature global leaders working across fields such as child safety, men and masculinity, perpetrator accountability, fatherhood, and partnering with survivors.
Together, these conversations examine how systems often fail adult and child survivors, how societal narratives about masculinity and violence shape professional practice, and how intersectional realities—including cultural and religious beliefs, racialised identities, LGBTQ+ experiences, immigration status, disability, and other structural vulnerabilities—shape responses to abuse and violence.
The podcast offers an insider lens into how professionals navigate systems not only as practitioners, but also as parents and partners. Through candid dialogue and critical reflection, Ruth and David challenge the assumptions and structures that limit meaningful accountability, safety, and healing. The goal is collective movement across systems, cultures, and families toward greater safety, nurturance, and sustained change.
Disclaimer: Episodes contain sensitive topics and occasional mature language that may be difficult for some listeners. The views and opinions expressed by podcast guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Safe & Together Institute or its staff.
Partnered with a Survivor: David Mandel and Ruth Reymundo Mandel
Latest Episodes
Season 7 Episode 9: When Systems Fracture Identity: A Métis Perspective on Belonging and Accountability
Systems don’t just “break” on their own. They do what they were designed to do, and too often that means extracting money, labor, and dignity while claiming to keep us safe. In this episode, David and Ruth sit down with
Season 7 Episode 8: Shifting Domestic Violence Practice in Japan with Professor Kanako Masui
Ruth and David are recording from Okayama, Japan, and the shift you’re about to hear is bigger than language. Professor Kanako Masui of Nihon Fukushi University joins David and Ruth to explain why so many domestic violence and child...
Season 7 Episode 7: Coercive Control and Children: What Systems Miss | 2026 Asia Pacific Conference Wrap-Up
The most useful conference debriefs aren’t about highlights—they’re about what shifts in you when you listen closely. From the Sydney coast, Ruth and David wrap up a three-and-a-half-week Asia Pacific tour and talk through the moments that chan...
Season 7 Episode 6: Domestic Abuse in Queer Relationships
Domestic abuse gets dangerously easy to miss when our systems can only imagine one story about who victims are and what abuse looks like. David and Ruth sit down with Luke Martin, a UK-bas...
Season 7 Episode 5: AI in Child Protection: Can Technology Make Social Work Safer?
Artificial intelligence is already in social work and child protection, and its use is deepening. The question is: How safe, effective, and equitable is it? In this episode, David and Ruth talk with Dr. LaSharia Turner and Dr. Helen...
Fan Mail
Listening to your podcast and subscribed to the mapping tool. You are a voice of reason that is so desperately needed also in Finland! What can I do to get your model planted with the Finnish authorities? I am in the midst of 3 upcoming court cases with my abuser and my child is not safe. The situation in the Finnish family court is such that my lawyer told me not to report rape while the custody case is on, so they won’t turn it against me and put the child with the abusive father! I reported it anyway. I will map and print and talk about your model to whoever I come to contact with. And after the court cases are over and I am no longer gagged, I will never stop talking about domestic violence and the perpetrator focus. Thank you again so much for your life-saving work, we will do this system change together! Best regards, Hanna Partanen hanna@peaceinvaders.fi
Finland